Park Operations

[JoshC.]

The park's commercial and marketing directors have given an interview with Blooloop which explains their processes behind being a thrill-focused park and the benefits of the commercial focus they've had in recent years. It's a great read:

 

https://blooloop.com/theme-park/opinion/thorpe-park-marketing-thrill-seekers/

[Mark9]

On 9/10/2024 at 12:47 PM, Cal said:

Think its safe to say the cuts have now reached Thorpe. With Rumba closed for the season, and Detonator, Inferno, Walking Dead, Vortex, Fish, Tidal Wave, Quantum, Depth Charge all showed as late opening today.

 

Doesn't help that Hyperia is also opening late daily and Ghost train is always a 12pm opening. Thats a lot of the park closed in the morning. 

 

Was bound to happen with some of the cuts we're seeing at the other parks. I'd still take these late openings over reduced opening hours though. Hopefully not a sign of things to come. 

 

 

I find that we're having this conversation really concerning, particularly for the UK market as a whole. It kind of came and went but the attendance report for parks was released and some key sentences in there are quote below

 

Quote

Elsewhere, European parks performed exceptionally well while parks in the Americas experienced more modest
growth. Generally, parks that invested regularly throughout the pandemic years tended to perform better over time.

 

and

 

Quote

Some of the smallest growth percentages this year came from the U.K. There are a few reasons for this. Overall tourism to the U.K. remains below pre-pandemic levels, with Brexit providing both actual and perceived barriers to entry. Additionally, the government ended the VAT Retail Export Scheme, which reportedly has deterred 2
million tourists and cost over £10.6 billion in sales. The change has also impacted themuseum, hospitality and entertainment markets.

 

I find this to be our ultimate problem is that whilst the European parks are exceeding expectations, the parks in the UK aren't despite investment. I was at Europa Park and Efteling over the last two weeks. Both parks very busy, every ride open (well apart from one but Efteling isn't a seasonal theme park). Rides open on time, fully staffed. If you think it's an unfair comparison, well it isn't. Its the same time of year, Merlin is the third biggest worldwide operator.

 

It's going to take some bold action for our parks to return to a place where they are not only highly profitable but successful. And one of the realities of the Merlin parks is the Annual Pass creates so much drag across the parks. I think a significant look needs to take place as we've seen places like Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Phantasialand either remove entirely or price accordingly and the respective parks have never been so profitable..

[Inferno]

2 hours ago, Mark9 said:

whilst the European parks are exceeding expectations, the parks in the UK aren't despite investment.

That's interesting that this is happening.

 

I wonder if Merlin will weirdly benefit from Universal arriving in the UK?

The likes of Disney, Europa and to an extent Phantasialand etc all have enough clout to attract people from abroad on their own.  I don't think any of the UK parks are really able to do that at the moment.

I think a resort like Universal might though - and I do wonder if their guests might take a trip to one of the Merlin parks 'while they're here' sort of thing? A bit like how people go to Orlando for the big parks, but visit Legoland 'while we're here', as you certainly wouldn't fly across the globe for a park like that on its own.

 

I think as well it's worth mentioning that actually prices for everything, and the cost of living in general, must be playing massively in to it as well.... One thing I noticed on my recent visit to DLP was that the food and drink was cheaper within their parks than it was at Merlin's, and that was at Di$n€y.

Also we very much made a conscious decision to cut back on these sort of things to enable us to go to DLP - I bet there are a lot of people in a similar position, sacrificing smaller treats like a day at a Merlin park to allow them to go abroad on holiday etc?

 

I think really UK park visits have become a luxury for a lot of people here compared with how it was just a few years ago.

For me personally, what used to be an "oh go on then, let's go to Thorpe at the weekend" decision has now become quite a planned landmark day (if you know what I mean) - it's not something that can really be done on a whim to the extent that it used to be.

 

Whatever is going on here, Brexit and cost of living aside, closing attractions and winding down isn't going to attract more customers 🤷🏼‍♂️ Hopefully investment continues across the Merlin parks and things pick up, especially if Universal does go ahead - it would be amazing for the UK to become a bit of a theme park destination wouldn't it!